Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Self-assembled liposomes functionalized with transition metal-based photocatalysts as a supramolecular platform for efficient photocatalytic water splitting

Objective

Artificial photosynthesis is aimed at developing photocatalytic systems that convert solar energy into chemical energy carriers such as renewable hydrogen. These artificial systems draw inspiration from natural photosynthesis which takes place at the core of lipid membranes. The artificial lipid membranes of liposomes hence hold strong potential for designing visible light-driven water splitting supramolecular systems. However, it remains a photochemical challenge to couple the two half redox processes that altogether form water splitting: water oxidation and water reduction. In this project, we use bioinspired, supramolecular photocatalytic assemblies supported on the membrane of liposomes, to realise such coupling. Liposomes provide nanocompartments to confine reaction spaces and enable vectorial charge transport. Amphiphilic transition metal-based photosensitizers and molecular catalysts will be anchored to the lipid bilayers, facilitating the concomitant evolution of O2 and H2 from the two half-reactions. To couple both half-reactions, will use an hydrophilic cobalt cage complex as reversible electron relay. The project has been structured to realise key operations: light harvesting, charge separation, directed proton and electron transport from the water oxidation side to the proton reduction side, ultimately achieving water splitting via a Z-scheme mechanism. The study will focus on assessing the coupling of two redox processes by optimising pH and minimising charge recombination on both sides of the photo reaction. The successful implementation of Lipo4AP could lead to innovative strategies for the next generation of biomimetic artificial photosynthetic systems. The complementary advanced skills obtained by the fellow will complete her prior expertise to successfully advance her research career dedicated to catalytic transformations of small molecules, which are relevant to the economic and environmental targets of the European Green Deal.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Coordinator

UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN
Net EU contribution
€ 232 916,16
Address
RAPENBURG 70
2311 EZ Leiden
Netherlands

See on map

Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
No data
My booklet 0 0